Moira
by The-MarmaladeCat1
Summary: In the light, amidst the flowers, two women meet, and somehow they find that although they come from vastly different worlds, they're not all that different at all. Yuna & Aerith


**AN:-** Written for the request, Yuna/Aeris - the weight of other's hopes bearing down upon you. Spoilers for major parts of both FFVII and FFX

ooo

There is a point, not far from Djose Temple, beneath the shadow of the rock face, that Yuna almost dies.

It's no different from any other place along this road in the flat-baked dirt with the whisper of the sea coiling at the base of the cliffs far below. But to Yuna and her Guardians, it is very nearly the end of everything. The summoner herself is scarcely aware of the danger of the situation, and her one alert is Wakka's yell (which she finds amusing because it's half an octave higher than it should be and she wants to say, Wakka, dear one. Calm down, I'm fine) and Auron's roar of outrage and then she is looking up into the paw pads of the largest wolf fiend she has ever seen.

When those huge paws hit her chest she is surprised at the lack of pain and more shocked by the sheer strength of the beast when the impact of its leap throws her backwards. She expects to feel its teeth on her neck, on her face, and she braces herself for the rush of its fetid breath and the horrible pain of its bite. In that drawn-out split-second between its leap and the impact of her body against the rock, it is strange then that she catches the faint perfume of flowers, after which there is nothing but light.

oOo

When the Planet speaks, it is with the voice of a thousand thousand souls. Aeris hears the whispered cry that sounds as harsh as a shout, like a choir of petitioners all clamouring for her attention and she wonders if her mother ever felt this way. There was a destiny for her, as there is a destiny for everyone and everything, and the only thing that everyone forgets is that everyone's destiny is the same. She remembers her mother saying that, or maybe it was the Planet, in which case it could well have been her mother anyway for in the end we all return to the Planet.

She is in this place because of destiny - because of someone else's ideas of destiny. She is here and she is waiting because someone else has forced their destinies to be cruel and unforgiving. If only the will of one person could alter fate. She would like to believe for their sake - Zack's, Cloud's, Marlene's - that it could be so. She has lied to them before, telling them tales and moral stories that paint a picture of individuality, of self-worth and of just what can be achieved if one goes so far as to believe in oneself. Mostly, she believes in these things, but there are times when they turn to her for guidance, for hope, for mercy, that she can hardly bear the weight of their belief in her and suddenly fate seems like nothing but a gilded prison whose bars are as strong and as merciless as cold steel.

She suspects that she is being indulgent, childish, but for all her calm she is burning up on the inside with fear and apprehension. Such an awful fate. How can she bear it alone?

So she clasps her hands before her and draws her shivering courage around herself and waits for destiny to come and sweep her off her feet. It will not be a long wait, and for every second that passes, the air turns colder. Closing her eyes, she calls to the Planet and lets the peace of the Lifestream come to carry her away.

oOo

Yuna has seen the Farplane and she knows that there are always flowers. The dead like flowers. She drifts through the meadow and the tips of her fingers trail across their petals. The scent they let off reminds her of childhood and her father's voice and she wonders if perhaps she will see him here somewhere. She wonders if perhaps she should search for him here amongst the flowers and the light.

It occurs to her that if she is on the Farplane, then she too must be dead, and oddly this doesn't seem all that important. It relieves her more that since she is here the others have obviously found a way to send her, and as such she will not be the cause of further pain to them by returning as a fiend.

In the distance amidst the swirling mist, she can hear the sound of the waterfalls and the gentle tones of someone singing. There are no others around and it seems to her that if she is to find the people she loves who have gone before her, then surely the sound of another soul is the best place to begin. The song is a sombre one, and as the summoner moves closer she realises that there are no words to this song, merely a linking together of beautiful sounds too abstract to be a language. A song in the manner of one who believes themselves alone.

The meadow beneath her feet slopes upwards and she follows the rise of the land until it widens into a plateau of flowers and cliffs down which tumble waterfalls scintillating with light and colour. A woman no older than herself sits not far from the pool these waterfalls make and her song is accompaniment to the voice of the water. Yuna makes her way over to the woman and pauses a polite distance away. "Excuse me?" she says over the sound of the water.

The woman turns to her and Yuna is startled by the colour of her eyes, Kilika green, like the vines that climb the sides of the temple. Their eyes meet and Yuna thinks i _wisdom_ /i right about the time Aeris thinks _strength_ and both of them think _I know that look_.

"Hello," the woman says. "I'm Aeris."

oOo

Yuna can remember quite clearly the look that Tidus gave her in Luca just before they left. It was a look full of hope and need and what she wants to believe is respect. She wanted to ignore the part of her mind that said i _tell him_ /i because that was too cruel, and the thrill of his wild enthusiasm helped her lift herself out of the fear that drained at her heart with every step she took. It had seemed like an innocent thing at the time, and surely it wouldn't hurt, just a little longer.

Aeris is smiling, gently threading the head of a flower between her fingertips and Yuna watches her face, seeing straight through the curve of her lips to the heart behind. She has worn that smile herself often enough to recognise it. But still, it would be rude of her to enquire of a stranger, and yet...is she not a summoner and a healer of the people? Whoever they may be.

"Have you come a long way?" Aeris asks and the question startles Yuna a little. How far is the Farplane from anywhere?

"I suppose," she replies and then she remembers Besaid and Kilika and Luca and she nods. "Yes, a long way."

Aeris' fingers brush against the petals of the flower. "I can tell," she replies. "You're not from around here."

Yuna blinks. "No..." she says uncertainly. "I was hoping to find some other people I knew. My father maybe."

Aeris' eyes are sad and a little distant as she replies. "He is here, but I think perhaps that you must wait to speak to him."

"I don't understand," says Yuna. "Why must I wait?"

Aeris looks sideways at her, and there is something there in her expression that Yuna cannot quite comprehend.

"You have to wait until the time is right," Aeris replies softly. "There's no hurry, you'll get to see him some time."

Yuna wonders if time even matters in this place. Perhaps her father is busy elsewhere, certainly it has been a long time since they last spoke. Maybe he was not expecting her so soon. Truly, she thinks, she had not been expecting to arrive so early. Still, to make the best of the situation must be her first thought now. And this woman, this sad, smiling woman is the only person in this place of petals and colour and light.

"Were you a summoner?" Yuna asks hesitantly, careful lest she cause the other distress.

Aeris smiles, "Of a sort. Though really, the greatest summoning is yet to come. And not perhaps in the way that everyone expects."

Yuna's lips part as though she will speak, but she cannot think of the words to begin unravelling this mystery. Aeris turns her head, drawing up her legs and resting her cheek upon her knees to look at her. For a long time Yuna sits as the other woman examines her face and it seems to her as though this person reads her heart as well as her eyes. It's strange, but completely unthreatening, and it reminds her of her father somehow.

She says as much, and Aeris laughs. "I shall take that as a compliment," she says, raising a hand to her mouth and the reaction makes Yuna giggle, which feels odd because she hasn't done _that_ in years. They sit for a moment in silence after that, listening to the rumbling of the waterfalls and feeling the rhythm of their breath.

"Who are you waiting for?" Yuna asks quietly. Simple words that cause the other woman's fingers to pause and come to rest on the head of a flower, her face turned down and away so that Yuna cannot read her expression. She can tell from the stillness of her shoulders that the question has cut deep.

"I'm sorry," she whispers.

"Please," Aeris replies. "Don't be."

She is silent for so long afterwards though that Yuna raises a hand and sets it carefully upon her shoulder in sympathy. "I did not mean to upset you," the summoner says quietly.

Aeris turns her head, swaying into Yuna's touch in brief acknowledgement. "No," she says. "I am being foolish. It's just that sometimes..."

There is a pause in which neither woman speaks, and the look that passes between them says more than words ever could.

"I had thought that I might find strength here," Aeris says. "I had hoped that he would come to me and I could take a little of what made him so...strong. Just something to tide me over, keep me going..." Her voice trails away and Yuna shifts closer. "It would be but a little thing."

Carefully, Yuna moves to the other woman's side so that she kneels with their thighs touching, offering comfort with her proximity. "Is that what you seek?" she says. "Strength?"

Aeris leans her drawn up legs into Yuna's side, her cheek resting upon her knees and does not draw back as Yuna raises a hand to brush the strands of her hair from her face. "Sometimes my own strength doesn't seem enough when I think of what is to come," she says.

Yuna's hands do not still, her fingers carefully combing the other woman's hair through her fingertips. "We take strength from those around us," she replies softly. "Where they are weak, we are strong. And they in turn guard us from the things that we do not see coming."

"But there are so many in need, so many hurt and suffering. So much damage has already been done," Aeris whispers and Yuna shakes her head.

"You must have faith," she replies. "In yourself. I know that at times it is hard, and Yevon knows that sometimes I wonder what on Spira I'm doing, but still. Still I look around at the people I love and I know that I have to be strong for them, that what I do has a purpose. That there can be something wonderful and good to come out of the suffering I must endure."

In the distance the waterfalls rumble and complain, and Yuna threads her fingers through Aeris' hair, picking apart the butterfly curls and stroking them smooth.

"I am glad we met," Aeris says softly. "You are one of the strongest people I've ever spoken to."

She turns beneath Yuna's palms and the summoner lets her hands fall into her lap. Aeris reaches across and places her own over them, squeezing gently.

"That I should meet you here is a blessing."

Yuna shakes her head. A blessing it may be, but one that has come too late she thinks.

"I thought that I would be the one to bring the next Calm," she admits sadly. "I am sorry for the people of Spira that I have failed them. But still, there are others who will follow my -our- path..."

Aeris nods a little, "But they will not have our understanding," she replies softly. "Though they will have our pain."

Yuna looks up at her, startled.

"I'm certain they will be able to bring the Calm," she says quickly. "After all, there are so many much stronger than I, much more capable. People who will not fail where I did."

The other woman smiles. "You have not failed. There is still time for you."

"Then there must still be time for both of us!" Yuna exclaims. It seems strange that the other woman should say such a thing, for they are both dead after all and as such of no possible use to anyone still amongst the living. But still, still-

Aeris is smiling that soft, knowing smile of hers and suddenly Yuna wants so much for this woman she barely even knows to come with her, be strong with her, even though there's nothing to be strong for anymore…

"You do not belong here yet," Aeris says, and Yuna's expression is query enough. "Your fate doesn't rest here, this is not where it ends. You have the power to make that final ending what you want it to be. You simply have to have faith in yourself and in those around you. In the end, it all comes down to us, here and now, no-one else.

People like us, we have to make our own fates."

She smiles and there are tears in Yuna's eyes. Suddenly there is a rising tide of emotion in the summoner, a feeling that things are moving and time is short. She turns her hands and grips Aeris's tightly. "Please," she says, "If that is the case, then we should go together."

Aeris shakes her head, her fingers tightening around Yuna's. "No," she says. "Our paths do not meet again, not for a long time yet. You must go, you don't belong here yet. Can't you hear them calling you? You should go to them."

And it's true, now that it has been said. Somehow she _can_ hear voices, people she recognises from somewhere, saying something, _something_…but what exactly she could not say. The mist from the waterfalls is rising around them and suddenly everything seems much brighter, white and pure like dawn or the moon or the brightest light just before you wake.

"I should…" she says, and Aeris says, "Thank you."

They rise to their knees together and just as the light becomes bright enough to blind she feels the flower woman's arms around her shoulders and her lips gentle upon her forehead. And then everything fades to pure white.

oOo

"-Yuna!"

"She's here, look. She's coming round…"

"…Tidus…?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Thought you were a goner for a moment there…"

"Don't say that, dumbass! Yuna, we're so sorry!"

"Wakka," she says. "It's okay, I'm okay…"

oOo

It's cold in the temple, but Aeris doesn't feel it. She doesn't feel the world at all anymore, only the rising certainty of hope and strength that burns throughout her. The sword means nothing to her, and there is no pain.

She smiles for her boy-SOLDIER, even as horror widens his eyes and blanches his face. _Be strong_, she says with that smile.

She smiles because she knows how it all ends and she regrets nothing.

oOo

A thousand lifetimes away, the world holds its breath and waits upon an answer.

"No-one," Yuna says, and for some reason, the scent of flowers is all around her.


End file.
